16. A Big Fan Of Meat

16

A BIG FAN OF MEAT

P hoenix arrived home at four with a few bags. He’d stopped and picked up pizza dough and all the toppings, then grabbed a bottle of red wine at the liquor store.

He had no clue what Crystal might like and just went with something that he knew Maryn had drunk in the past.

“Uncle Nix,” Elsie shouted when he walked in the door. “Look at our cookies.”

“Wow,” he said. The island was covered with at least three dozen cookies all decorated in red, white and green. It was easy enough to see who had done what. “They all look great. I’m not sure Santa is going to want to eat any because he might not want to ruin the works of art.”

Elsie giggled. “Santa isn’t getting them all. Only two. That’s all Mom ever gave him. She said he might get fatter if everyone gave him more than two.”

He held his grin in place. That was Maryn’s rule, only two cookies at a time. It brought back a great memory. Even the sugar cookies, though Maryn normally bought cookies. She wasn’t the baking kind of person.

“I remember your mom always put wine out too,” he said. “So I stopped and got some with the makings for dinner.”

“You remembered,” Elsie said. He looked at Crystal and breathed a sigh of relief that she’d texted him. It wasn’t something he remembered or even might have known about.

But he did remember that Elsie and Maryn made their own pizza on Christmas Eve. “I did,” he said, not caring too much about that fib. “I also remembered what you and your mother had for dinner on Christmas Eve and didn’t want to miss out on it this year either.”

“Pizza,” Elsie said, lifting her arms in the air. “Do we get to make them ourselves?”

“We do,” he said.

“Uncle Nix and me and Mom made our own pizzas on Christmas Eve every year that I remember. Even Nora had it with us twice. I think it was twice.”

“It was,” he said with his head down.

Nora hated that he was there one of those years, but he hadn’t flown home for the holiday. He was supposed to, but his flight had been canceled and rather than leave on Christmas morning, he’d gone home the following week for New Year's.

“Homemade pizza sounds like so much fun,” Crystal said. “What are your favorite toppings, Elsie?”

“I like ham and cheese and tomatoes.”

“That sounds yummy,” she said. “How about you, Phoenix?”

“Uncle Nix likes pepperoni, sausage and cheese. He likes meat only. What do you like?” Elsie asked.

She looked at Phoenix. “That sounds good to me. I’m a big fan of meat.”

Damn, she was teasing him again and in the most innocent way.

At least he thought that was teasing. If not, he had it worse than he could have imagined.

“Then I guess we’ll make sure you get your meat,” he said.

He unloaded the bags with Crystal’s help; then she got the pans out for them to cook. “Wow, this dough is already risen.”

“I stopped and got it at a local pizza place. You can just buy their dough. I’ve done it before.”

“It’s Uncle Nix’s favorite meal with me. We like making pizza.”

It was one of the few he did well enough for Elsie to eat. She used to be a fussy eater, but he hadn’t noticed that with Crystal here.

He wasn’t sure if it was his cooking or Maryn’s or that Crystal might have a touch of magic to her ways.

He definitely thought that was possible but wasn’t going to comment on it in front of Elsie.

“What temperature do you put the oven on?”

“Four-fifty,” he said. “I’m going to assume someone is hungry?”

“I’m starving,” Elsie said. “And Crystal said that we could watch a Christmas movie tonight after dinner. I want to have time to watch it before she goes upstairs.”

“Crystal can stay down and celebrate with us until you go to bed if she wants to,” he said looking at her. “Unless she wants to have some alone time.”

“I’m good with watching a Christmas movie.”

“Mom and I used to play board games too,” Elsie said.

He hadn’t realized that and wondered if that was done last year. “We can play any game you want,” he said. “I want you to do what you are used to. I know it’s a little hard and you’re missing your mother.”

Elsie wiped her hand on her nose. “I am,” Elsie said. “But it helps to do all these things like I did with her. I can remember her and talk about her. That’s good, right? Crystal said talking about my mom keeps the memories fresh.”

He turned to look at Crystal where she was opening all the sides they’d be using and laying them out. He’d even bought precooked sausage.

She lifted her head and turned to him and sent a wink.

Sometimes he realized she was much older than her actual age. Or at least her wisdom was.

“Crystal is right,” he said.

The night went by fairly quickly between their personal pizzas, then cleaning up, and having cookies for dessert. No way Elsie was letting them go to waste because they were too pretty to eat. Those were her words too.

They’d watched two movies and played one board game and he knew the little girl was dragging it out, but it was close to nine at this point. An hour later than her normal bedtime.

“I think you need to get to sleep if you want Santa to come. If you’re not sleeping when he’s ready to come by, he might pass the house over.”

“Oh no,” Elsie said. “My mother said Santa never misses a house with a good kid in it. I’ve been good.”

He laughed. “You’ve been the best,” he said. “But you still need to get ready for bed.”

“Why don’t we go together?” Crystal said. “You had your bath earlier, but we can get your jammies on, and when you wake up in the morning, there will be so much loot under that tree you won’t know what to do first.”

Elsie jumped up and down. “It was always covered with stuff with Mom, but then I’d end up not playing with everything. I don’t want that to happen.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Phoenix said. He was pretty sure he didn’t get her nearly what Maryn did and grappled with that.

He didn’t want possessions to make her feel better and was glad that activities they’d done seemed to do the trick more than anything.

Crystal and Elsie went to her room and got her ready for bed, then he tucked Elsie in and returned to see Crystal picking up the board game they’d just finished.

“She seems to be in good spirits, all things considered.”

“I think just the excitement of it all is helping. I expect she might be more upset in the coming days.”

“Could be,” she said. “I’ll let you know if that happens. I just let her talk about her mother and ask questions when she wants. Sometimes she cries and I let her do that too.”

“Why haven’t you said anything?” he asked, frowning.

“Hey,” she said. “Women cry for no reason at times. Sometimes she just says something about her mother and a few tears fall and nothing else. I always ask if she wants a hug or just a minute. I’m one of those people who if I’m hugged when I’m crying, I can’t seem to stop. I’ve seen it happen to Elsie and then afterward she says she feels worse.”

“I always hug her when she’s crying,” he said. “Am I making it worse?”

“I don’t think you are,” she said. “I think from you, she needs that. Not from me. She’s not afraid to cry in front of you. Sometimes with me, she’ll be funny and say something like she was having a girl moment.”

He laughed. “Maryn used to say that.”

“See,” she said. “She’s doing well. Her relationship with you is different than it is with me. Things should happen organically.”

“Are we only talking about Elsie right now?”

“No,” she said, smiling. “And those things should happen when you’re ready or can give it a push. Not everything should fall into place on its own. I mean, if I hadn’t moved closer to you last night, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now.”

She made a point. “The same could be said about me going to check on you when I heard tears.”

“We know those weren’t tears, but I think you were dialed into it. I find that sweet. You’ve got a sensitive side to you.”

“Not a lot of guys want to hear they’ve got a sensitive side,” he said dryly.

“I happen to think it’s sexy,” she said. “Just as sexy as you are without a shirt on. You’ve got a lot more muscle on you than I thought you did.”

“Stress has me working out,” he said. “It helps.”

“It looks good on you. Not the stress part.”

“Thanks,” he said. “Do you want to watch some TV until I know she’s asleep? I don’t want to rush everything under the tree just yet.”

“I’d like that,” she said. “Need to finish off this wine too. Are you going to have a glass with me? Or have something else?”

“Maybe I’ll have a glass of whiskey,” he said. “I took a risk on the wine.”

“I’m not too fussy about wine,” she said. “This is much better than anything I would buy. I’m going to assume you’ve bought it before and Maryn liked it?”

“Yes,” he said. “Thank you for texting me that. I had no idea she put wine out.”

“And now you get to be Uncle Nix the hero.”

“I don’t think I’m much of a hero.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” she said. “That little girl thinks the world of you. You were her hero long before the past few months. And you know what?”

“What?” he asked. He was humbled by the words being spoken.

“I find that pretty sexy too.”